


Monster Hunter: Rathian's Cradle

by WrestleCrazyGamer



Category: Monster Hunter (Video Games)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-25
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2020-01-31 13:16:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18592009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WrestleCrazyGamer/pseuds/WrestleCrazyGamer
Summary: Rathian's Cradle is one of the world's best guilds based in the capital city of the Mollolo Kingdom. Hel is a young orphan who decides to join the guild. On his journey to become a great hunter he'll find himself wrapped up in an adventure that could shake the world.





	Monster Hunter: Rathian's Cradle

_ In the world, monsters ran rampant. There were hunters who would do great things, but in the grand scheme their efforts meant little. The ruling countries of the world then banded together to craft a system that would allow hunters to become far more organized than before… The Guild System. This allowed kingdoms to form guilds of loyal hunters who would specifically guard their respective territories stationed all over. A new world order had been formed with the guilds working to protect us. The top four guilds of the world are Rathian’s Cradle, Kushala’s Roar, Nergigante’s Fang, and Jho Stalkers.  _

[Capital City of Mierra, Kingdom of Mollolo - Home to Rathian’s Cradle HQ]

A thin teenage boy with long messy braided black hair dressed only in hide pants and a hide shirt was standing before the massive red doors of a building one breezy overcast afternoon. Beyond those doors was the den of the kingdom’s best hunters, Rathian’s Cradle. The legends of the guild’s founding are all steeped in mystery. To join a guild you must either be inducted by a senior officer or recognized by the guildmaster. This fledgling was aiming to end his life of poverty and theft to survive by joining the guild. With a deep breath he pushed the doors open with very deep creaking echoing in the guild hall. Just as rumors had said, there were hunters of all varieties within including Monster Tamers. He took a step in and a loud roar almost knocked him over from the shockwave. At the other end of the hall curled under the stage holding the guildmaster’s chair was a Golden Rathian covered in battle scars with an eyepatch over one eye. Sitting on that decorated throne dressed in full Azure Rathalos Plate Mail was the guildmaster, Sylvia Wyrmbane. 

“If you’ve the moxy to speak, step forward.” she spoke in a commanding tone of voice.

The teen took a deep breath and then stepped forward making the other hunters snicker and giggle condescendingly. Sylvia then stood from her throne giving an analytical gaze at the teen.

“What is your name, boy?”

“Hel, ma’am. I was never given a last name.” he answered.

“You have come to join our guild, have you not? Are you aware of our entrance trial?” she asked him.

“To either bring back proof I have hunted this guild’s namesake or bring in a captured specimen.” he answered.

“You don’t look like you could do much.” Sylvia told him.

“The rules never said I had to succeed.” he huffed pulling a bloody Rathian scale from his pants pocket tossing it forward so everyone could see it.

“You dare disgrace our entrance trial?!” a man in Diablos armor roared prompting Sylvia to raise her hand to be silent.

“Do you have a death wish?” Sylvia asked him.

“There are worse things than death in this world.” he answered with a stern expression.

“Guilds are responsible for their members. Even the reckless ones. You don’t look like more than a toothpick to monsters.” Sylvia told him.

“That just means they’ll underestimate me, and when they do I’ll take that chance to rip their throats out.” Hel retorted bringing a grin to her face.

“The cheek…” a woman in Odagaron armor scoffed.

“Today forward your name will be Hel Foxtail. I’ll leave it to Brix to handle outfitting you with proper equipment.” Sylvia told him as she stroked her Rathian’s snout.

“What? Why me? It’s not my job to train newbies...” a tan man with long red hair dressed in leather armor with Great Jagras armor attachments complained.

“You  _ are _ my 1st Senior Officer, aren’t you? You would have the best survival knowledge to pass on.” Sylvia smiled as other hunters snarked and snickered nodding in condescending agreement.

“I swear, you people have no respect for this old man. You know what? Fine. I’ll train him into someone worthy of taking your seat!” Brix huffed in agitation pointing at Sylvia.

“I’ll be sure to keep it warm for him.” she giggled with a pleased smile.

“Come on kid, we’re going to the local blacksmith.” Brix ordered.

Hel followed him into town and to a forge named “Odagaron Forging” that was at least fifteen degrees hotter inside than it was outside. Brix then began looking over the weapon blueprints on a board as a small Rathalos barely knee height trotted up to begin sniffing Hel. A toned and ripped woman with short blue hair dressed in thick leather clothing then approached and lifted the baby making it wriggle squawking trying to get free.

“Back to work you, keep that furnace hot.” she laughed placing it on a table to begin blowing fire at the bottom of a small furnace beside many larger ones that a fully grown Rathalos was blowing fire at.

“Iron Powersword for the kid here.” Brix called to a muscular man built like a fortress holding a massive hammer.

“Powersword… a one-handed blade weapon with decent range that’s well-suited to beginners, but some skill is required for their advanced features if the weapon is equipped with them.” Hel spouted like an encyclopedia.

“I don’t care what the inflated egos of other hunters say, the Powersword is the absolute best beginner weapon for its balanced fighting style. Style and flair doesn’t mean crap if you’re dead.” Brix huffed.

The weapon that came down the conveyor belt moments later was shaped like a long single-edge sword with a black blade and silver edge, a bone guard over the hand, a large revolver cylinder loaded with varying color crystals embedded in the space where the blade and guard meet, and red wrapping around the handle. The weapon was still smoking a bit from how freshly it’d been forged. The blacksmith then cooled it a bit more before handing it to Brix who then placed it in Hel’s grip showing it to be slightly over half of his height in length.

“It’s a bit heavier than it looks.” Hel commented while taking a few practice swings.

“You’ll get used to it, kid. Say, how did you get that Rathian scale? You don’t look like you could afford a weapon strong enough to wound a monster that strong.” Brix asked him.

“A hunter friend of mine lent me her knife. She said if I was serious then that was all I needed to get the job done.” Hel replied as the blacksmith’s assistant fitted a leather scabbard around his waist.

“Where is this loaner knife then?” he prodded further.

“It broke when I got the scale out. She was really mad that I broke it all just to get a scale and let the mark get away.” Hel explained.

“Pfft, ‘mark’, yeah that’s rich. A Mark would eat you alive regardless of who you are.” Brix scoffed.

“Did I say something funny?” he tilted his head.

“Kid, there’s two kinds of monster in this world. You’ve got your typical varieties of lesser monsters and Elder Dragons, but then there are your mutations which the Guilds call ‘Marks’. These aren’t like any others of their species and are about twice as wild. Sometimes just hurting them is a trial in of itself. A Mark has a specific name designation given by the crown of a kingdom. Us Guilds are supposed to try and take them out as soon as they’re discovered, but life’s not that easy. Can’t be everywhere at once, ya know?” Brix explained.

“Marks… not the same as calling a monster your mark…? That’ll be confusing for a while.” Hel sighed.

“I guess next is getting you some proper clothes…” Brix sighed when a young woman in Jagras armor ran up to him.

“Officer Brix, it’s a disaster! A caravan outside the West Gate is being attacked by El Blanco and the situation is getting out of hand! The Lynx Busters Guild has requested that Rathian’s Cradle come to their aid!” she told him.

“El Blanco?! Damn it Yurgle, you said that bastard was dead!” Brix growled in aggravation while rubbing his temples.

“Who’s El Blanco?” Hel asked him.

“One of those Marks I was telling you about. It’s a pure white Rathian with red decals on its body and a voracious appetite for humans. One of our clansmen, Yurgle, claimed he’d killed it with a cave in. I’ve gotta go, so stay here and leave it to your superiors.” Brix explained before rushing off with the young woman.

“Lynx Busters… that’s Ran’s guild!” Hel gasped.

Hel ran through town, through the West Gate, and toward the plain beyond known as  _ The Birthing Plains _ . Under most circumstances the most dangerous thing you could find there would be a Great Jagras. He rushed out into the plains and could soon hear the sounds of combat. Once on seen he saw the simply massive Rathian known as El Blanco locked in combat with Brix, now wielding twin swords that he was able to connect into a bow at will. Behind him looking hurt was a young woman a few years older than Hel dressed in Anjanath armor. At her feet was a sword and shield looking worse for wear.

“Ran!” Hel cried as he rushed to help her sit up.

“Hel…? You shouldn’t have come…” she groaned prompting Hel to take her helmet off letting down long brown hair with some blood going down her face.

“Kid?! Damn it I said to stay put!” Brix roared managing to knock El Blanco out of the air by ripping holes in its wings.

“Ran is my friend. I’m not going to abandon her.” Hel told him while drawing his Powersword.

“Can’t believe this, of all the… Fine, kid, the minute you find an opening both of you get the hell out of here got it?” Brix ordered as El Blanco got back up roaring viciously.

“What about you…?” Ran asked him.

“I can handle a Mark like El Blanco on my own, you two need to get out of here.” he replied rushing to lock in combat with El Blanco again.

“Here it comes.” Hel braced himself.

_ >Brix and Ran joined Hel’s Party! _

El Blanco made getting their footing difficult as it raged around attacking them. With each lunge its tail left behind a foul-smelling acid killing the grass and plants it landed on. Hel took a close and personal approach striking in El Blanco’s blindspot while Ran tried to do something about its tail. Brix was keeping it distracted by opening fire with arrows at its head making it angrier by the minute. To their shock instead of breathing fire at them El Blanco unleashed a massive purple cloud of poison turning the grass black while any plants it went over immediately wilted and died.

“Poison  _ and _ an acid tail? Okay, one’s gotta go.” Brix huffed as he fired another volley.

“On it!” Hel roared charging as El Blanco roared at Brix.

“Together! Swing from below!” Ran called as she leapt up.

Both hunters struck the tail in the same spot from above and below making El Blanco let out a ground-shaking screech. Brix then scored a strike in El Blanco’s left eye making it even angrier flailing violently cracking into a group of boulders leaving the end of its tail by the duo.

“Now’s your chance, get out of here! Take the tail with you as a reward for helping!” Brix ordered getting between the two and El Blanco.

“That’s a no can do. Guild members don’t abandon each other, no matter the danger.” Hel smiled.

“Well… I can’t abandon the caravan my guild was escorting. Once El Blanco’s finished they’ll still need protection until they’re in the capital. It looks like we’re working together to finish it off.” Ran sighed with a defeated smile seeing Hel’s resolve.

“Kids these days… fine, but only on the condition that you two idiots don’t die on me. Sylvia would tan my hide with the clan pet.” Brix sighed.

El Blanco got up from the rubble and its spines began to glow crimson as it turned around. It then let out a loud roar while blasting poison all over the place making them back up. There was no way they were getting close now.

“Is there some secret hunter knowledge you’ve got to help us get in close?” Hel asked Brix.

“Well I’ve got something that usually works wonders on Rathians and Rathalos, but El Blanco is a Mark so I’m not sure how long it’d work if it works at all. So once I fire, if that poison mist stops coming out or if I don’t miss, charge and try to take it out in one last hurrah.” Brix instructed as he readied an odd-looking pure white arrow.

He loosed his arrow and it struck El Blanco where its neck and chest meet making it yelp loudly as its breath suddenly ceased pouring out. The trio then charged each unleashed a devastating slash to its chest making it roar loudly falling on its back. Ran then catapulted Hel into the air to perform a downward strike on its chest prompting one last death screech from El Blanco before going limp. When Hel withdrew his blade Brix decapitated the body.

**El Blanco - Vanquished**

“Why decapitate it?” Ran asked him.

“To make absolutely sure it’s dead. I don’t want a repeat of the Vaal Hazak Incident.” he smiled while cleaning off his blades.

“So, is El Blanco unique?” Hel asked him as he hopped off the body.

“Yep. Marks are the only ones of their kind. You can’t just go out and hunt another one. Kill it and that’s all she wrote. Unless it bred, but there’s no real way to tell if it has or not.” Brix replied as some civilians approached them.

“Thank you for coming to the rescue… we’d like to reward you but most of our goods were destroyed in the initial encounter...” the man of the group spoke apologetically.

“It’s cool. We get a reward from the crown for slaying this bad girl as it is. Rathian’s Cradle will see to it the dead receive a proper burial too.” Brix told them.

“We are truly in your debt…” the man sobbed.

“All right, let’s get back to town before something nasty gets wind of this corpse.” Brix smiled.

Once they were back in the city Hel noticed Ran was the only hunter with them. She was hanging back from the group too. Hel waited to let her catch up to him out of concern.

“Ran, where’s the rest of your guildsmen?” he asked making her jump a little.

“Well… I wasn’t sure with all the confusion at first… but now I know for sure… I was the only one of my guildmates who made it out of that attack alive. I had the whole guild with me, twenty two people, and we got decimated. I’m the sole survivor of Lynx Busters.” Ran replied starting to cry.

“Marks aren’t meant for the average joe. Hell, there are some vets who still won’t go near Marks. I’ve hunted several in my years as a hunter, so has our guildmaster, so I knew how to approach it. You two only survived because I was there. My weapon is designed for taking those things on.” Brix told them.

“I meant to ask. That’s not a traditional weapon is it?” Hel asked.

“These are Bowblades, foreign to this country but if you custom order you can get them made for you. They’re very difficult to make right, so know your smithy before asking. If it’s too flexible the blades won’t cut very well, but if it’s too stiff they won’t launch arrows very far.” Brix replied with a grin.

“Hey, is it okay if Ran comes to the guild hall with us?” Hel asked.

“I don’t see why not. She helped slay this sucker.” he shrugged with a smile.

The party went to Rathian’s Cradle HQ and inside a shady-looking man in leather armor was trembling before Sylvia, who looked very displeased. Brix had a smug grin as his face as they wheeled in the cart with El Blanco’s body on it.

“Hiya Yurgle. Remember when you said El Blanco was dead as a doornail? Turns out she was alive, buddy. Me and these rookies had to clean up a mess caused by your negligence.” Brix beamed putting a hand on his shoulder making him jump sweating profusely.

“I-I saw it crushed in the cave in… it couldn’t have survived…” he stammered while staring at the body.

“This is why we always,  _ always _ , double check that it’s dead before claiming the hunt is over. Unless you bring back definitive proof that it’s dead then we will consider the monster to be at large. You brought us a scale and claimed it to be dead without actually confirming it. The crown wants an explanation and I know exactly what I’m going to tell them. Yurgle, you are hereby expelled from Rathian’s Cradle and stripped of your Guild Name. You will stand trial in the Imperial Court for falsely claiming a Mark was slain and claimed the reward knowing that it may still be alive. This also makes you responsible for the recent attack.” Sylvia scolded him.

“Wait! Please! Let me redeem myself!” Yurgle begged falling to his knees as Imperial Soldiers entered to take him away.

“Ah, karma is a wonderful thing.” Brix exhaled in satisfaction.

“Brix, Hel, I’m glad you two are safe.” Sylvia smiled changing demeanor completely.

“All in a day’s work. I  _ am _ your 1st Senior Officer.” Brix beamed smugly.

“Is she from Lynx Busters?” Sylvia asked eyeing Ran.

“She’s the only member of the guild left, ma’am. The rest fell to El Blanco fighting to the very last to protect their charges. Some of the goods made it out so all things considered their final quest was a success. I’d like to formally propose holding a Flame of Honor Sending for them.” Brix informed her.

“This is rare of you, Brix. Caring for how other guilds are buried?” Sylvia smiled warmly.

“They gave their lives to their duty. Spineless rookies these days should learn from their example. To die for your quest is not pathetic, nor is it a sign you were too weak. It’s proof you devoted every ounce of your blood and sweat to making the world a safer place. Even if you die, if the mission is complete then you won.” Brix told her with a serious expression.

“Proposal accepted. I’ll handle the preparations, so you and Hel can relax in town.” Sylvia ordered with a kind sympathetic smile.

“What about Ran?” Hel asked while glancing at his friend.

“She is acting Guild Master for Lynx Busters in its final hours. Just as I must see to the burial preparations she must handle the guild’s affairs.” Sylvia answered.

“I’ll see you later, Hel.” she smiled weakly.

_ >Ran left Hel’s Party. _

“Well then you and I have got a date with the Outfitter in town. Can’t have you barefoot all the time can we? Your clothes can’t take a beating either.” Brix smiled patting his shoulder.

Hel was then taken to the “Lunastra’s Den”, one of the high end outfitters of the city that holds the distinct honor of forging Sylvia’s current armor set. The woman inside had long blonde hair and was dressed in Lunastra armor, fitting with the shop’s name. At Brix’s request she measured him and began to sew together a new ensemble of sturdy leather armor.

“Before I forget, could you work this into the chest piece?” Brix asked as he presented a large white plate scale.

“What’s that from?” Hel asked him.

“It came off El Blanco’s back when you thrust your sword in its chest. The plate scales on the back of a Rathian and a Rathalos are super strong, perfect for armor. You dealt the blow so it’s rightfully yours.” Brix explained with a confident smile.

When the outfit was finished Hel used the changing room to get dressed. He could tell just how much care and detail was put into it. The plate scale had been cropped so it’d fit over his chest while the pieces taken off were used to make bracers to his gloves. He looked like a real hunter now. His socks were made from a very fine wool too so they were comfortable without making his feet hot.

“Come back any time, Brix...” the shopkeep winked.

“Will do, sweetheart.” he chuckled with a monkey grin.

“What about paying?” Hel asked as they left the shop.

“You could say I’ve got a thing going on with the owner. Saved her from the Lunastra her armor came from. So she makes things for free once in a while.” Brix replied.

Soon sundown began to roll around and Brix led Hel down to the port. There were ceremonial decorations all over the place and the Lynx Busters banner was hung all around. The normal lights and even all the nearby buildings were off replaced only by candlelight. There were hunters and civilians all around paying their respects. Hel had never seen so many hunters from different guilds in one place before. At the end of the docks a large boat had been set up with many coffins onboard. Ran was dressed in a black and gold gown with a dragon headdress now. By her side was Sylvia with the clan’s Golden Rathian sitting before them facing the ocean.

“Brix, what is a Flame of Honor Sending?” Hel whispered to him.

“It’s a special funeral that gives the fallen the highest honor hunters can be given before they’re sent off: the honor of bearing the title ‘Kingdom Defender’. It’s believed that if you’re cremated in Rathian flames your soul will pass on to heaven in peace.” Brix explained quietly. 

“Are you ready?” Sylvia asked Ran.

“I’m not… but I want them to rest in peace.” Ran sniffled.

The bards of Rathian’s Cradle began to play a song as Ran used a large rod to push the boat on its way. Once it was far enough away the guild’s Rathian flew out and lit the ship ablaze. People began to leave over time, but Ran didn’t leave the docks until the flames had gone out leaving nothing left on the water. By morning, Lynx Busters would be another added to the city’s Wall of Fallen Guilds erected in memory of those lost in the line of duty.


End file.
